Vox

Starting out in the 1950's as JMI or Jennings Musical Instruments, Vox is most famous as firstly the British amplifier maker and then as a British electric Guitar brand, (the actual Guitars were made in Italy or Japan), but they have no particular history or pedigree as a maker of Ukuleles so it was with some surprise the limited edition, (of 400 Mahogany and 100 Koa), Vox "Hello Kitty" Ukuleles were launched in Japan in 2011. The Japanese connection is easy enough; having gone bankrupt as an independent company in 1969, Vox went through a number of owners until in 1992 it was acquired by the Japanese Electronic Instrument manufacturer Korg who still own it now, but why suddenly Ukuleles? and why Hello Kitty? I have read that the Hello Kittys were actually made by Headway In 2014 they released some more of the Hello Kitty models, they were slightly different being 12 frets to the body and one of the models being mango wood but I've not seen the publicity for them so I don't know the numbers involved with this.

In 2012, in Japan again, they launched a solid body electric Ukulele based on their famous teardrop Guitar. It was available as a Concert or Tenor with both versions having a built in amp and speaker at the sound hole, (powered by a 9v battery). They have moved forward with this idea and in 2013 they launched the same basic design worldwide with a different model number but only as a Concert and in 4 different finishes, (the earlier Japanese one only comes as natural with a white scratch plate and as its still available to buy in Japan I'm not sure if this was a limited edition or if its still in production too?). It also has a name, the Ukelectric, and another difference is it has geared tuners whereas the Japanese models have friction tuners. I suspect they come from different factories but I don't know for sure?

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